Yale School of Management Hosts Pre-MBA Leadership Program

The Yale School of Management (SOM) this month hosted its annual Pre-MBA Leadership Program, a highly selective summer program for college sophomores, juniors, seniors and recent graduates from populations underrepresented in management education. This year, the program went global, expanding to include students from universities in Brazil, China, Ghana, Indonesia, Mexico and Singapore.

The two-week week program, which took place this year from June 10th through 23rd, focuses on introducing prospective MBA students from underrepresented populations to the fundamentals of an MBA education. In addition to giving participants a taste of MBA coursework, it also introduces career path possibilities through a range of panel discussions and other activities.

As part of one such panel, four Yale SOM alumni urged participants to consider business school in their career plans. “The curriculum is what drew me to Yale SOM, as well as the people,” Huei-Li Leow ’12 told the students. “I needed an education that would allow me to pivot in my career, one that was flexible, and here at SOM you’ll meet an amazing network of people,” she continued. Leow now works for Deloitte in innovation strategy.

Another panelist, Courtney Williams ’10, sang the praises of Yale SOM’s integrated curriculum. “Yale had a new approach,” he said, distinct from the “cookie-cutter approach” he saw at other schools. “You didn’t learn things in silos. You learned them in combination,” he said of the Yale program. Williams now works in worldwide procurement at Pfizer.

The June 13th event also included an address by Mark Walton ’79, executive vice president for sponsorship and corporate development at The Africa Channel. Noting that underrepresented groups make up only 6 percent of MBA students in the top 50 business schools, he urged students to do what they can to make a difference. “You have a responsibility. If this is something you’re thinking about doing, go to the best school,” he said. “Don’t waste this opportunity. Take advantage of it and use it to change these statistics.”